WD Vault

Party vs. Cash

When my ex-husband and I got married during a blizzard in January my mother-in-law asked us a favor. "Please kids," she begged. "Do not have any children in March or April. That's all I ask.” Her husband, all three sons and two grandsons all have birthdays in March and April. And guess What? Katie and Matthew were born in March and Hannah in April. I still laugh.

All kidding aside, March and April can potentially carry the same financial burdens as Christmas, and without careful planning can burst a budget like dynamite. When the girls were little we would combine their birthday parties to cut costs and it worked just fine. As all three got older, however, their wants grew more expensive and so did their parties. Their Dad and I came up with a money-saving idea that we figured would keep our kids happy: They can either have a party or they can have $100 cash to spend however they would like. We figured that this would save us some money, but does it? Let's take a look:

Take my 9 year-old son, Matthew. The local bowling alley is a huge birthday party venue for boys his age. Here are the stats:

-It costs $10 per child and includes one round of bowling, 5 tokens for the arcade, a slice of pizza and drink.

-You must bring the cake, but the birthday boy gets a trophy.

-We usually have about ten kids ($100), with ten goodie-bags at approximately $3 each ($30) a theme cake (about $25) and budget of about $75 in gifts.

-Grand total? $230.00.

If he chooses the cash, he has $100 to purchase whatever he wants. He’s good with money and usually chooses to spend half and save half. It's a wonderful lesson in saving and budgeting money and that's good. But what about the cost of missing out on precious childhood memories of birthday parties with your friends?

Laura Rowley, a personal finance expert with Yahoo! Finance always reminds us to closely align our spending with our values. If "Family" is the number one value in your life (it is for me), then is $230 (while a lot of money) isn't so much to pay for a lasting memory for my son. I can assure you, he’s already forgotten the times that he chose the money in lieu of the party. It reads like instant gratification and not much more. If I asked him today what he bought with that money he would have no idea. Is padding my wallet with an extra $130 worth it? Tell me what you think.

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